Annual ‘Magnet States’ Report: Texas Dethroned

Share This Post Now!

For the first time in a dozen years, Texas is not claiming the top spot in the annual Allied Van Lines Magnet States Report. Instead, Florida and Arizona beat the Longhorn State with higher net relocation gains.

The annual report uses internal data to track U.S. and cross-border migration patterns with Canada, and found that Florida’s net relocation gain of 1,316 propelled it to the top of the 2016 list from the second spot last year. This net gain is calculated by the difference between inbound moves and outbound moves performed by Allied Van Lines, one of the world’s largest moving companies.

“Texas has been a powerhouse magnet state for more than a decade, but traditional retirement states like Florida and Arizona are always strong contenders for the list,” says Lesli Bertoli, general manager and vice president of Allied Van Lines. “For the first time in recent history, both Florida and Arizona were able to unseat Texas from its top spot position.”

Content Square 1.

Arizona was the second most magnetic state, with 1,137 net inbound moves in 2016, and Texas came in third, with 891 net inbound moves.

Rounding out the top five magnet states in 2016 were North Carolina (9th in 2015) and Utah (8th in 2015).

Biggest Movers in 2016
California continues to dominate as the most mobile state, with 10,590 moves conducted by Allied Van Lines that featured California as its departure or destination state.

Content Square 2.

Increasing Attraction
Some of the biggest movers on the list are Virginia (up 16 spots from the least magnetic state in 2015 to the 17th least magnetic), Iowa (up 15 spots from No. 42 to 27) and Connecticut (up 10 spots from 37th place to 26th place).

Other states with big changes on the list included Delaware, which tumbled to 9th least magnetic state, dropping 17 spots, and Colorado, which went from 6th most magnetic in 2015 to 21st in 2016.

Outbound States
Illinois returned to the bottom of the list after a brief respite in 2015. Allied’s 2016 Magnet States data show Illinois as the state with the greatest net outbound moves, with 1,284 moves out of state. California took its place as the 2nd most outbound state (1,060 outbound moves), followed by Pennsylvania (716 net outbound moves) and New York (714 net outbound moves). Rounding out the bottom five was New Jersey (542 net outbound moves).

Content Square 3.

Canadians on the Move
Similar to 2015, more Americans crossed the border in a move to British Columbia than left, making it the most attractive province for U.S. relocation. Ontario chalked up the largest net loss to cross-border moves.